{"id":1597,"date":"2013-04-08T22:24:49","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T22:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theaccent.org\/?p=1597"},"modified":"2013-04-08T22:24:49","modified_gmt":"2013-04-08T22:24:49","slug":"news-brief-acc-automotive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/news-brief-acc-automotive\/","title":{"rendered":"News Brief: ACC Automotive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\" id=\"internal-source-marker_0.40792813560651464\">Story by Derek Shiekhi, Reporter<br \/>\nPhotos by Gordon Murray, Photographer<!--more--><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Mike Shoebroek, chair of the ACC&#8217;s Automotive Technology Department since\u00a0 fall\u00a0 2001,\u00a0 said an associate degree in automotive technology will not only get students into the workforce, but will open doors for their future that they may not have known existed.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Shoebroek said most students can expect to make $20,000 to $30,000 in their first year of work and $40,000 to $60,000 after three to five years. \u00a0He knows of technicians with around 10 years of experience who make over $100,000 a year.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cYou get about 10 years, you\u2019re going to hit your stride, and make the most you\u2019re ever going to make in your life once you hit about the 10 year mark,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Shoebroek gave Accent a tour of the college\u2019s 14-bay automotive training facility at Riverside Campus. During the visit, he provided the following tips on car care.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Tools:<\/strong> Home mechanics should have the same hand tools they would use for home repair \u2014 screwdrivers, wrenches, a ratchet and drives (\u00bc\u201d, 3\/8\u201d, and \u00bd\u201d), sockets, a pair of pliers, and a couple of hammers.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Procedure:<\/strong> Make sure auto technicians are certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). \u00a0Still, it\u2019s a good idea to take the following safeguards:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Google the shop you have in mind and check for bad reviews.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Clean out the car before having it serviced. \u00a0The work order filled out at the shop has your home address and other telling information on it. \u00a0The contents of the car also reveals a lot about an owner. Keep personal items at home.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When handing over the car keys, hold on to your house key.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Maintenance:<\/strong> To keep a car running smoothly and safely:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Change oil regularly according to the manufacturer\u2019s suggested schedule.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Rotate tires about every other oil change.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Maintain correct tire pressure to maximize gas milage and minimize wear. Check pressure as temperatures fluctuate. When temperatures go from warm to cold, tires will be under-inflated. When temperatures go from cold back to warm, tires will be over-inflated.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Philosophy \u2014 If It\u2019s Not Broken, Fix It:<\/strong> \u00a0People either fix their cars only when they break or before they break. \u201cIf you repair a car based on the preventative maintenance schedule,\u201d Shoebroek said, \u201cyou\u2019ll have a vehicle that you can trust more often, that won\u2019t break down on you. If you have a vehicle where the only time you\u2019re ever replacing anything or bringing it in for service is when it breaks, it\u2019s going to break more often.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1565\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1565\" style=\"width: 592px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theaccent.org\/accent2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Web_ACC_Autotech_6303.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1565 \" title=\"Riverside Campus Car Maintenance Bay\" alt=\"Web_ACC_Autotech_6303\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theaccent.org\/accent2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Web_ACC_Autotech_6303-592x394.jpg\" width=\"592\" height=\"394\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1565\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FIX &#8216;ER UP &#8212; Students work on cars in the 14-bay, 8-lift automotive facility at Riverside Campus. ACC is certified by the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) and offers courses that correspond to the eight different testing areas for certification with the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1566\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1566\" style=\"width: 564px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theaccent.org\/accent2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Web_ACC_Autotech_6305.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1566\" title=\"Mike Shoebroek\" alt=\"Web_ACC_Autotech_6305\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theaccent.org\/accent2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Web_ACC_Autotech_6305-564x592.jpg\" width=\"564\" height=\"592\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1566\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Mike Shoebroek is the department chair of the ACC Automotive Technology Department. Shoebroek has held the position since 2001<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Story by Derek Shiekhi, Reporter Photos by Gordon Murray, Photographer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4015,"featured_media":1565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[103,139,203,388,423,507],"class_list":["post-1597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photos-2","tag-automotive","tag-car","tag-derek-shiekhi","tag-maintenance","tag-mike-shoebroek","tag-riverside-campus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4015"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}